October brought the second Friday the 13th of this year, and to mark the occasion Registers of Scotland (RoS) carried out some research to see whether the date affects people’s property buying habits at all.

The latest UK House Price Index has revealed that average house prices in the UK increased by 5.0% in the year to August 2017 (up from 4.5% in July 2017). According to the Office for National Statistics, which published the Index, the annual growth rate has slowed since mid-2016 but has remained broadly under 5% during 2017. 

UK house prices rose by an average of 4.1% on an annual basis, taking the average property value to £215,847, according to March’s edition of the UK House Price Index (UK HPI). On a monthly basis, house prices have fallen by 0.6% across the UK since February 2017. 

Bank of Scotland has calculated that by 14th March, new borrowers had earned enough to cover the annual cost of their mortgage repayments.

RICS recently published its housing forecast for 2017, which predicts an average increase of 3% in house prices in the UK over the course of the year.